Screenshot/White House
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Sunday, March 29, 2020.
- President Donald Trump on Sunday radically changed his assessment of the threat posed by the coronavirus.
- Trump previously said he hoped to be able to ease social distancing as early as March 30, later revised to Easter, which falls in early April.
- Instead he extended social distancing measures until April 30, and said to expect a death toll in the US beyond 100,000.
- Even that figure, he said, would mean he and his allies had "done a very good job."
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President Donald Trump spent the early phase of the coronavirus outbreak in the US downplaying its likely impact - but has now changed his stance abruptly and expects many thousands of American deaths.
In a press conference on Sunday March 29, Trump sought to set new parameters for the success of his handling of the virus, claiming that 100,000 or fewer deaths in the US would constitute a "very good job."
On February 26 he predicted that in a matter of days the total number of coronavirus cases in the US would be "close to zero." Instead, the US now has more confirmed cases than any other nation.
Here are the daily new case numbers in the US:
More recently, Trump has spoken of easing lockdown restrictions and reopening the US economy by Easter, alarming public health officials who've warned that it could worsen the outbreak.
But in Sunday's briefing, Trump gave up on his aim of an Easter renewal. Instead he extended social distancing measures until the end of April, an apparent concession to warnings from health experts.
He was also franker than ever about the likely number of deaths.
"2.2 million people would have died if we didn't do what we are doing," Trump claimed.
The figure matches predictions from scientists at Imperial College London, whose work has guided several governments in their response to the virus.
"If we can hold that number down ... to 100,000, it's a horrible number, maybe even less ... we all, all together have done a very good job," Trump said.
Trump only five days ago floated Easter as a proposed timeline for reopening swaths of the US economy because, he said, it's a "beautiful time."
Even that was a setback from initial hopes to end restrictions by March 30 after just 15 days of distancing.
On Fox News, allies of the president have even claimed that older Americans should be willing to shoulder the risk of infection to preserve US economy.
As the number of infections and deaths has continued to climb sharply in the US, Trump on Sunday said the Easter date for reopening the economy was only ever "aspirational."
Trump's projection of 100,000 deaths from the illness was backed Sunday by Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases.
"I think it's entirely conceivable that if we do not mitigate to the extent we are trying to do is that you could reach that number," Fauci said at the White House news conference.
Dr Fauci was reportedly one of the officials who has been urging Trump not to lift quarantine restrictions too early, and has insisted that any decisions on lifting mass quarantine must be guided by data.
Trump appears to have been shaken from his optimism not just by data and advice from public health professionals, but by images broadcast on news networks over the weekend showing body bags being lined up in a hospital in Queens, New York - the borough where he was born and grew up.
"I've been watching that for the last week on television," he said. "Body bags all over, in hallways."
"I've been watching them bring in trailer trucks, freezer trucks, they're freezer trucks, because they can't handle the bodies, there are so many of them. This is essentially in my community, in Queens; Queens, New York. I've seen things that I've never seen before."
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President Donald Trump extends current social distancing guidelines for Americans until April 30 as his administration expects more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus outbreak. Follow the latest news on coronavirus with our live blog: https://t.co/cEBwkoEQ5P pic.twitter.com/Ppx4eqoEw6
- Reuters (@Reuters) March 30, 2020